


Never In Heart

by Bandearg_Rois



Series: The Adventures of Long Distance [1]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, I swear I don't watch too many rom-coms, Not A Fix-It, Okay so I totally do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-30
Updated: 2012-10-31
Packaged: 2017-11-17 08:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandearg_Rois/pseuds/Bandearg_Rois
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's never been very good at being 'Normal.' Thankfully, neither has Darcy.</p>
<p>(Formerly titled 'Bridged')</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Puento Antiguo - The First Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this prompt:
> 
>  
> 
> _I want Clint and Darcy being in a sort of unintentionally secret relationship--maybe they hooked up in New Mexico, and now they're surviving on emails and the occasional weekend visit while he goes where SHIELD tells him and she stays wherever she is for college? Anyways, they're in a serious relationship, but hardly anyone knows._
> 
>  
> 
> _Then Tony, who lives to irritate people, starts trying to set Clint up with random women. Clint's mostly amused at first, but then it gets irritating, so the next time Darcy's in New York he introduces her to the team._
> 
>  
> 
> _Cue the Avengers being shocked and impressed at this super-hot younger woman Clint has somehow managed to snare, who also happens to be really freaking awesome._
> 
>  
> 
> I've cleaned it up a little from my livejournal and added a few things.
> 
> Full original prompt can be found here: http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/5758.html?thread=7774078#t7774078

Clint knew he was kind of wasted on ops like the one Phil had been forced to take in New Mexico. Honestly he was wasted on a lot of the ops that Phil ended up with lately, especially since he didn't really have any skills that would be helpful in dealing with people like Tony Stark. However, Phil had brought him because no one knew what to expect and Clint knew firsthand how much Phil relied on him to keep his eyes open and look at things from a distance. It was one of his only skills that wasn't necessarily just because he was a sniper, and he liked knowing that Phil trusted his observations enough to put him in charge of a lot more that most people thought he should. But all this had turned into was watching from a cherry picker while Tito got his ass kicked by a spec ops soldier no one had ever seen or heard from before, which was frankly hilarious because Tito was a dick. Phil bitched him out afterward, complaining that he'd specified 'gun', which never really worked because there was no way the guy could have gotten far enough away from his nest to render his bow ineffective. And no, that wasn't bragging.

So once the excitement was over, he had nothing to do. He was kind of sent out to follow 'Donald Blake' and Dr. Selvig, which actually meant that he'd gotten bored and begged Jasper to give him something to do. He couldn't deny that 'Blake' could be dangerous, but Selvig's only danger lay in his remarkable ability to bullshit and his intelligence, and 'Blake' seemed like he'd kind of shut down since the whole 'not being able to pull the hammer out of the rock' thing, so he really didn't think they could do much of anything stupid in a bar in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, so he was pretty much bored. That Blake guy could hold his liquor, but watching him drink the old dude under the table was only funny for the first 20 minutes. So he decided that he didn't actually have to watch them to watch them, especially since his comm was in his ear and both of them were bugged. Phil would probably kill him later for leaving them, but whatever. He'd never really been one for rules, anyway. He did make sure to set up the sensor that Jasper had given him that was attuned to ‘Blake’s’ bio-signature, and that meant he didn’t even have to physically be aware of their position.

  
So instead of boring himself in the crappy little bar, he went to the crappy club down the street (and really? A club and a bar in the same small town? Guess there wasn't much else to do) and ordered a soda. Even if he wasn't actively watching them, he was still on the clock, so no alcohol for him. Which was a pity, because he saw some great brands up behind the bar, and he wished he had more off time that corrolated with normal drinking times (8 in the morning wasn't really conducive to finding an open bar, unfortunately).  
  
"Well hell _ooo_ there," he heard from his right and looked over (and down) to see a spitfire brunette sipping on something that was violently green and had an orange umbrella sticking out of it. Her eyes were wide and purposely innocent, making him want to snort a little at how fake the expression was.  
  
"Hi." She was cute, and she'd obviously seen something she liked, which made him preen, even though he was at least 10 years older than her, which would normally be a turn-off, but she also looked intelligent.  
  
"I'm Darcy. What's your name, Hot-stuff?" Or maybe not. He mentally rolled his eyes.  _Hot-stuff?_ She must be  _really_ bored.  
  
"Clint. What're you drinking?"  
  
"Green Hornet. And you're drinking Coke. Without anything in it." She was observant, too. How nice. He was beginning to regret letting her chat him up, no matter how cute she was.  
  
"Not looking to get drunk, just want to unwind." Which was nominally true, and at least talking to her wasn't as boring as watching an old man make an idiot out of himself over a Boilermaker. Because seriously, could he not pick something a little less... Clint couldn't even think of the term he wanted, but it was bad, whatever it was. He was sure of it.  
  
"You're with those suit guys aren't you? Your boss took my iPod." Ah. The assistant. Phil had thought she was kind of adorable in an irritating way, especially when she complained about the iPod.  
  
"Oh, you work with the doctor. I'll make sure you get it back; iPods are important." He hadn't flirted in awhile, so he hoped he was doing okay, and he was definitely trying not to fall back on the 'manners' he'd learned with Carsons. "What kind of music do you listen to?"  
  
"Oh, a little of everything. And I'm holding you to getting that back for me, Handsome." She stepped a little closer, and he could tell that she was maybe tipsy, not quite into sloshed territory, which made him feel better about hitting on her. Drunk girls really weren't a challenge, he remembered that much. Plus, he had nothing else to do, so why not?  
  
"Sure. I'm a man of my word." He drained his soda and filched her drink, taking a sip and then handing it back. "Too sweet for me, sorry." She just raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Really? That's all you have to say about a Green Hornet?"  
  
"Well, when I'm used to Johnny and Jack, drinks that have more color than liquor are kind of useless to me." Instead of looking mad, she laughed, and he was hooked, which was possibly the worst thing to happen to him in awhile. She had a really nice laugh; her face lit up with it and she was a little more than just cute, she was beautiful. Oh boy, he was in trouble. Clint didn't get crushes, especially not on beautiful girls (Budapest was such an exception it wasn't even funny) and here he was, falling hard and fast. Which was a no-no, a big one. He blinked a little and realized she was talking to him, so he rewound the conversation for a minute, trying to make sure that he didn't need to cover his tracks about something.  
  
"So why're you here in a club instead of watching monitors or shooting people or whatever it is you do?"  
  
"I'm on a secret mission," he said, watching her face light up with another grin. "If I told you what it was I'd have to kill you." And he could see she knew he's joking (he sort of was, Phil never said he was doing anything FYEO, especially since Phil hadn't actually sent him on this op, so whatever) and he was treated to another laugh (jeez she was gorgeous, he had to stop this thing somehow, before he was too far gone) and a shove to his shoulder. He almost flinched, not really used to casual contact like that, but he held himself back, kept from pushing her away, which would have been pretty bad, whether he was legitimately flirting with her or not.  
  
"Yeah right. And I'm secretly a genius who finds wormholes."  
  
"No, you just work for one," he countered, and why couldn't he stop talking to her? He should have just put his glass down and walked away. It would have been so much simpler.  
  
"Hey, it's six credits. And I got to taze a guy the other day, so it actually works out pretty well. So. You. Club. Why?" She wouldn't be dissuaded, which was either awesome or terrible. He couldn't honestly decide.  
  
"Just had to get away. The bar down the street isn't very exciting. Plus there was a drinking contest going on; not really my thing."  
  
"Please tell me it's not Jane's friends?" She looked simultaneously mortified and intrigued, reminding him that he'd seen the picture they had of 'Blake' at the diner eating pancakes from her phone. He was tempted to send her with his phone to get more, because having evidence that Selvig couldn't hold his liquor might just come in handy someday, the way Phil was salivating over getting ahold of him for R &D.  
  
"Sorry, can't lie."  
  
"You so can. Whatever. So you came here to..."  
  
"Drink a Coke. And apparently talk to a pretty girl." Dammit. He was supposed to be backing off the flirting, not escalating. But he couldn't help it, she really was pretty, and he was much less bored.  
  
"Well, you've got one of them down pat, at least." He caught the slight frown on her face and felt like punching whoever her ex-boyfriend(s) was(were), because that was not the look of a girl who knew she was attractive.  
  
"Don't be so down on yourself. You're gorgeous."  
  
"And you're a flatterer, Mr. Secret Agent Clint." His communicator chirped; the guys had left the bar.  
  
"Sorry to talk and run, Darcy, but I've gotta go. Maybe I'll see you around?" He drained his watered down soda and put the glass on the bar. Before he could do more than that, Darcy had ahold of his arm and a Sharpie. She wrote a phone number on the inside of his arm (and that seriously tickled) and capped the marker, giving him an almost shy smile, which made something in his torso do a strange twisting movement that almost stole his breath for a moment.  
  
"Call me if you've got time? I kind of like talking to you, you know?"  
  
"Sure." And before he could stop himself, he brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her cheek. "I'll take you up on that. And you're beautiful when you blush." He sauntered out and followed the other men back to the scientist's trailer, then watched Blake and Foster talk on the roof for a little while before deciding that no one was going anywhere for the rest of the night. He thought about going back to the club, but as he got closer, the place closed up and Darcy was nowhere to be seen, which meant she was at Foster's house. And he was totally not one of those creepy vampires that Natasha had forced him to watch that god-awful movie about (glitter? Really? Tweens.), so he headed for the far end of town and the hotel that Phil had commandeered for their stay.   
  
When he got back to his hotel room, he was only able to put Darcy's number in his private phone before being called back in; Phil apparently wanted his report, and he prepared himself for the lecture about 'ducking responsilbility' and 'independence does not mean insubordination'. They were Phil's absolute favorite lectures, even though Clint had heard them often enough that he could probably give them in his sleep. Darcy was pushed out of his mind by some other things that Phil had found out about 'Blake' and the hammer.  
  
~*~  
  
He wasn't able to call her until after the whole 'huge robot thing destroys small town with the help of the huge blond guy who is an alien God' thing was over. He didn't have long, since Phil wanted him back in New York by that next Monday, but it wasn't like he couldn't take Darcy out to dinner (in the next town over, since there really wasn't anything left of the one they were in) and talk some more. He'd been pretty nervous about the whole thing, which had made Phil admittedly twitchy, but they'd been working together for long enough that the older man knew better than to ask for details before Clint was ready to give them, so he was left on his own to freak out about the date.  
  
"You know, Clint, you're different out of the 'I'm a Secret Agent' shell," Darcy said, looking over the menu of the little cafe they'd found.  
  
"I've been told that, actually. Not usually by someone who means it nicely, but still." He grinned at her. "And never by a pretty girl." He was going to say that as often as he had to for her to believe it, even if they ended up never seeing each other in person again.  
  
"Oh, hush. I'm glad you called me, though. Too bad you don't have my iPod. I was hoping to get that back before the suits cleared town." Clint grinned wider, because Phil had mentioned that he'd have to put a credit on her iTunes account in order to get out of her bad graces (though why Phil cared that much about some scientist's assistant, he had no clue).  
  
"You'll have it by next week. I made Coulson promise to send it back, and he always keeps his promises. So why are you working with Foster?"  
  
"Interning. And it's credits to graduate." She said it like it was completely obvious, which on one level, it was. He'd heard from Coulson that she'd changed her major in her Sophomore year from Literature to Political Science, which fit with her personality, but not necessarily with her current employment.  
  
"You said that the other night. But you don't strike me as an astrophysicist."   
  
"Political Science. I was the only one that applied. So you're a sharp-shooter." He noticed the subject change and let it go, figuring that if they kept seeing each other, he'd eventually hear something other than the superficial reasoning, but the actual subject was sort of a surprise.  
  
"Huh?" He wasn't wearing anything approaching his normal uniform, so how the hell could she tell?  
  
"Your fingers. You're ambidextrous, sure, but the callouses on your left hand are consistent with sharpshooting." He was pretty impressed, especially since most people thought he was a boxer because of the scars on his knuckles and his crooked nose.  
  
"Archery, actually. You're pretty observant."  
  
"I like knowing who's around me. Also, your uniform the other night had an arm guard on it. Two of them. And you were wearing a shooting glove. Pretty hot, actually." Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the waitress and he noted that she didn't order a salad. Good. He'd dated a girl once that thought she was fat, and that had ended terribly. "So why'd you call me, Clint?" She'd gone from almost flippant to serious in a surprisingly short amount of time, so he decided that the truth was probably best.  
  
"You're interesting, and you kept me from being bored out of my mind that night. And you're pretty damn cute. And I'm pretty sure you're smarter than you let on. Which interests me." At her blush, he smirked. "And you blush at the weirdest things." Which was quite adorable and he wanted to take advantage of it as often as possible.  
  
"Oh shut up." He ducked the straw wrapper with a grin, laughing a little. "What made you join the suits?" He jerked a little, since he hadn't been expecting that question.  
  
"Well, they... They saved me. I was in a pretty bad place and they gave me an out. So I guess I feel like I owe them." He didn't mean to be that honest with his answer, even though he hadn't actually given any specifics. No one but Jasper and Phil knew the whole story of what happened between his time at Carson's and when he joined SHIELD, and he intended for it to stay that way as long as possible. He hoped it wasn't too vague though, because flat-out lying felt like a bad move to make with Darcy.  
  
"That's as good a reason to work somewhere as any, I guess." She looked a little dubious, but then again, the closest she'd come to the wild side of life was probably when she hit Thor with a truck, so that was probably a normal reaction. He was never quite sure about that sort of thing.  
  
"Yeah. So why political science?"  
  
"People are interesting. Especially what they consider important in a leader or a representative of them. I want to understand why they choose like they do. Sh, my minor's psychology." He laughed again; she looked like it was a real secret, something that could get her in trouble, and that was way too cute.  
  
"Won't tell anyone." Their conversation kind of petered out as the food arrived, though Clint couldn't really think of the last time he'd felt this level of comfort just eating with someone. Even Natasha wasn't this easy to get along with, not at first, and that was after the death threats and the initial fighting for hierarchy.  
  
"So, Clint, when're you leaving?" Darcy finally asked, as they lingered over pieces of cheesecake and the last of the wine that had practically been shoved on them by the owner of the place when she heard they'd been part of taking out the Destroyer, even if Darcy had just stood there and Clint hadn’t made it in time to do more than stare at the smoking wreckage and sigh at missing out on a fight, even if he'd have been useless.  
  
"Gotta be back in NYC on Monday. Boss's orders. But I've got the rest of the weekend." He hoped that he'd have some company for the weekend, but he wasn't going to presume anything; Darcy was definitely a wild card.  
  
"Good. So you'll stick around with me til you gotta leave?" And his prayers were answered, at least partly.  
  
"If you'll let me. Not like I really know anyone else around here, huh? Sorry, that sounded wrong. I mean, I'd like to hang out with you, if you'll let me." Shit, he usually didn’t put his foot in it quite that badly. Luckily, she didn’t look offended.  
  
"Sure. Let's get out of here, huh? The owner looks like she's about to ask for an autograph or something." He snorted but dropped some bills on the table, grabbing her coat for her. "Such a gentleman,"she teased, and he felt his own face heating up a little. "Oh! Something that makes you blush!" He guessed he'd earned that, at least a little, but he couldn't let her know that.  
  
"Oh hush. C'mon." She took his hand as they walked out of the restaurant, seemingly instinctively sticking to the one he didn't usually shoot with, and he squeezed gently. It'd been a long time since he'd had a girl to hold hands with and it was pretty nice, actually. He drove her back to the little house she shared with Foster but she didn't get out, which boded well for him, at least he hoped so. Damn, he was rusty.  
  
"Can we go to your place? Jane's kind of been harshing my mellow ever since Blondie went back over the rainbow." He almost laughed at her description of what had happened to Thor, but he managed to hold it in just in case she felt like hitting him or something.  
  
"Uh, sure. I've just got a hotel room, though..." She waved her hand dismissively, which he should have guessed; it wasn't like she thought he'd have had a permanent residence or something, obviously.  
  
"It's gotta be better than watching Jane obsess over calculations. She'll calm down to her normal frantic self in about a week, but it's gonna be hell til then. So your place?"  
  
"Okay." He drove the two blocks to the hotel, trying to figure out why his palms were sweating. "So where are you studying?" He had a feeling he was babbling, and her amused look confirmed it.  
  
"University of Michigan Ann Arbor. It's a pretty place. A little cold, but it's all right. And you live in New York?"  
  
"I've got an apartment in Queens, but I work in Manhattan when I'm in town." He ignored the look that the desk clerk gave him as he ushered her into the elevator. "I think I've got a coffeemaker up there if you want some." She turned and raised an eyebrow at him, smiling.  
  
"You really think I asked you up to your place to have coffee?" Oh. _Oh._ "Now you're getting it." And the only thing he could do was wrap an arm around her as she stepped forward, pulling him down into a kiss.


	2. Separation - Clint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first months from Clint's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starts the Monday after their first date.

Monday morning Darcy drove him to the airstrip where the jet was waiting to take him back to Headquarters, and he kind of wished he didn't have to go. Work was fun, usually (fucking _Budapest_ was the exception here, too), but being with Darcy had been a really nice vacation. They'd spent pretty much the entire weekend in bed, and he was sore in some places he'd almost completely forgotten were possible to have soreness in, but he was pretty damned happy about the lingering reminder.  
  
"Hey Clint. You're gonna call me, right?" Darcy said just before they went through the chain-link gate to the runway, her voice a little lost, and Clint was reminded painfully that she was only 24. Almost 7 years between them, and a lifetime of experience, something that he hoped never changed, at least for her sake.  
  
"Of course. You're stuck with me. Okay?" She grinned, eyes still a little bleak, and just before they got within sight of the jet he made her pull over. "You're technically not supposed to see the plane. Also, I wanted to do this." He kissed her as hard as he knew how, trying to reassure her that this wasn't over by a long-shot.  
  
"Wow. Okay. Well, I'll send you a text from Arizona, okay?" He tucked her hair back and grinned, even though he really didn't want to do what he was doing, leaving her.  
  
"Definitely. I'll be waiting for it. See you later, Darcy." He finally got out of the car, slinging his small duffel and his bow-case over his shoulders. "Don't lose my number!"  
  
"I won't." He didn't let himself look back as he started around the corner, but he stopped when he knew she couldn't see him anymore, listening to her drive away and wondering how hard the next few months were going to be.  
  
~*~  
  
Pretty damned hard, as it turned out. He didn't hear from her for weeks, sometimes, mostly because of terrible cell reception, and then when she could talk sometimes he couldn't. The missions had stepped up, and with the addition of Selvig to the team researching the Tessaract, it had gotten even harder to find times to call her and vice versa. Being stuck half a mile under concrete and rebar didn't make for good reception at all.  
  
Add to that that no one really knew they were (was dating the right word for a couple of dates and a weekend in a hotel room?) together, except for Phil, who'd sussed him out in a couple of days, and it was harder than it should have been. Of course, they'd both pretty much known this would happen, that they'd be apart more than together, but it didn't make not seeing her any easier, and he felt a little disconnected, which wasn't something he was used to, mostly because he wasn't used to being connected to anyone in the first place. Before Darcy, all of his important people had been with him almost all the time.  
  
Thankfully, things eased up a little when Jane went back to New Mexico, which was where the Dark Energy headquarters and Dr. Selvig were. He was able to get out for a few hours every now and then and meet up for dinner with her, though he couldn't really tell her who he was working with or what they were doing, which chafed a little, because it seemed she should have had the clearance, knowing Thor and all, but agency protocols were agency protocols. Darcy didn't really care though, or at least she said that, so they had a few pleasant evenings and a couple of nights when he could get the time off.

~*~

Clint knew more about Darcy's body than he'd bothered to find out about anyone else except Natasha; the spots that made her sigh, the ones that made her laugh. He wasn't looking forward to going back to Headquarters, and that kind of scared him. He wasn't used to wanting to know that much about another person, even though he knew almost everything else about her after weeks of nothing but talking and texting. It was a little unnerving, especially because every time he saw her it felt like he had to play catch-up, relearn everything that had softened in his memory due to time. Sometimes he really hated his job. Seriously. Especially when they got a whole week together and he had to adjust and readjust to being with and then without her.  
  
"What's wrong?" Darcy slid a hand over his shoulder and up to his jaw, turning him to look at her. He smiled, nuzzling her jaw in return.  
  
"Nothing. Not looking forward to work." Her face softened a little and he felt himself falling all over again. Nothing he'd ever read or heard of mentioned that, the love at first sight thing. Not that he'd tell her that, not this early in the game (but it really wasn't early, was it? It had been over six months).

"I know. I'm half-afraid some days that Jane will get a wild hair and send us chasing storms across Oklahoma. At least while we've both got a main hub to work from it's easier to see each other." Sometimes he wondered how the hell he got so lucky to know Darcy, to get this kind of feeling, and understanding, from someone that had absolutely no real idea about what he really did on a day-to-day basis. He usually chalked it up to the best luck possible, because he really didn't believe in things like fate (he thought he did once, but Budapest destroyed that. Wow, a lot of things happened in Budapest, at least to his emotional wellbeing) and he didn't think Darcy did either.

"Well, at least we're close enough that talking almost every day isn't too hard to do. You make a great distraction from watching people stare at computers for 12 hours a day." She laughed at that, and he rolled up onto his elbow, kissing her. "I've got about 9 hours before I have to leave, you know. And we talk a lot on the phone..." She shoved playfully at his shoulder (which did nothing, but it was unbearably cute that she tried), and he laughed with her, deciding to let the happiness he felt at the moment just sink in, hoping it would be enough for the bigger separations that were coming up.

~*~

The frequent meetings and dinners worked perfectly fine for months, until Jane moved on again and Darcy's internship was over. Then it got hard again, since she was heading back to Michigan and he was stuck babysitting a Norwegian scientist and a mystical doorway to the ether. At that point email was easier than text messages, because his laptop worked just fine up in his nest, and SHIELD (he was so glad that Stark had kept saying it until they started using it, because really) had really good wifi.  
  
Darcy sent him pictures of trees and dogs and once she even took a picture of some guy's fingernail as part of a story about dropping a rolling door on him. Clint had no idea that going to college was so dangerous, but whatever. They were dropped back to a once-a-week phone call that usually ended up in phone sex at some point (soundproofing was amazing), because Darcy was surprisingly good at derailing a serious conversations with talk about his sexual prowess. Sometimes, though, they just talked for hours about anything and nothing. He found out about her family in Spokane, her mom and little brother who was just going into high school in the fall, and he told her a little about Barney (not the bad parts, those he wasn't going to tell anyone but the people who already knew) and the circus.   
  
She started calling him random names from the circus, apparently trying them out to be a pet name of some kind, which was frankly amusing, especially since none of them stuck, mostly because she didn't know a lot about the behind the scenes of a circus and so she didn't know any of the really good ones. He parried with 'Sweetheart' and refused to budge from it, which apparently annoyed her to no end (or so she said, but he'd gotten good enough at reading her voice to know it was about 60% faked annoyance). The one time they got to Skype he laughed when she blushed harder than ever at the endearment. "They call me Hawkeye, Sweetheart. Try something avian if you really want to give me one."

~*~  
  
He managed to get time off to go to her graduation in June, which was actually really cool. He'd never actually been to one, and most of it was boring, but sitting through the boring parts was worth it when he knew she saw him in the audience, the big annoying camera that Phil had foisted on him around his neck. Her mom hadn't been able to make it because of Bennet's school, and Clint had agreed to get pictures (not that Darcy knew he'd even be there for it). Phil had apparently overheard the conversation and given him the most obnoxious camera he could find (at least that's what Clint figured, because he hadn't seen a camera that big since he was a kid in the circus). The whole thing was mostly a novelty to him, though he couldn't deny that he was pretty damned proud of her when she walked across the stage to get her diploma, even though he'd really had nothing to do with her earning the degree. 

He managed to finagle a few more days with her by calling Phil and pleading with his best 'I'm your favorite and you know it' voice. Apparently it had worked because he'd gotten the email with the paperwork signed by Fury less than half an hour after he called Phil, and he immediately took her out to celebrate. He managed to stretch the celebration as long as possible, simply because he just didn't want to let go of her again.  
  
"So are you going back to Washington?" he asked on his last night with her in her dorm room, tracing up and down her arm with one finger.  
  
"Got offered a job in Albany actually. I don't have to accept til August." Her fingers danced up his chest and he shifted, laying back to let her cuddle closer.  
  
"And I'll still be in New Mexico, unless they figure out whatever they're doing there soon. Damn." Darcy laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.  
  
"Well, we've gotten by for over a year with this so far. We'll make it."  
  
"Optimism. Knew there was a reason I loved you." This was the first time he even hinted at his feelings, and he felt her stiffen before relaxing against him again.  
  
"Not the only reason, babe. Just a big one." He heard the note of wonder in her voice and wished bitterly that they'd been able to have a normal relationship; if they had, she wouldn't ever have any reason whatsoever to doubt that he wanted her.  
  
"Definitely not the only reason. Go to sleep. I don't have to be at the airport til noon." He reached down and pulled the blanket higher as she settled more firmly at his side.  
  
"Mkay. Love you, too, feather-brain." Before he could really protest it, she was asleep, so he just kissed the top of her head and drifted off himself. There would be time in the morning. At least until he had to leave her again. Fuck.


	3. Separation - Darcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their separation from Darcy's POV.

She'd thought that being in Michigan while Clint was in New Mexico was hard, and it was. But being home in Spokane with Mom and Bennet and all the old friends from high school that she'd bothered to keep up with was worse. At least when she was at school she had papers and random plays and parties to go to. Spokane wasn't a small town by any means, but her part of it felt a lot like one, where everyone knew everyone else and everyone knew everyone else's business. It wouldn't have been so bad if she'd been able to escape to Seattle, but it was a rare weekend that she was able to borrow her mom's car to make the 4-5 hour drive, so she was pretty much stuck. 

Clint called her as much as possible, trying to keep them above one phone call a week, but he still had a job that put him underground for most of every day, which meant she was on her own. Luckily, SHIELD's wifi still worked pretty well, and the emails got longer and longer, filled with random shit that she saw, or old stories of his that he hadn't gotten around to telling her yet, so she didn't feel quite as disconnected as she would have otherwise, though her mother apparently thought she was making him up, even though she'd seen the pictures from graduation and even talked to him on the phone a few times.

Her mother was also trying to get her to put in for jobs on the West Coast, preferably Washington or Oregon. Unfortunately (or at least for her mother), jobs for fresh-faced Poli-Sci majors were pretty thin on the ground, especially in the Pacific Northwest. She would have better luck on the East Coast, with the smaller states that had more candidates looking for people to work for them. She tried to keep the fact that Clint would eventually be in New York out of her decision-making process, mostly because she didn't want to sacrifice a really good job just to be close to him. They'd been apart for more time than they'd been together so far, and there was no sign that she was going to get dumped any time soon. 

The job in Albany had fallen through, which pretty much sucked because that would have put her within easy driving distance of almost anything she'd have wanted to see, Clint notwithstanding, so she was back to the drawing board, so to speak. She knew that her mother didn't honestly care that she was at home, mostly because there was another person to look over Bennet's homework and laugh at him when he was being a silly little boy, but it chafed a little. She'd gone to school for almost 7 years, and she was officially unemployed. 

She was doing just fine, though, at least until the Invasion of New York.

~*~

It started with whispers from the few people that she kept up with from New Mexico emailing her about a giant sinkhole opening up in the middle of unoccupied desert, and just got stranger from there. She must have emailed Clint about 30 times after she called him and got voicemail. She didn't get any kind of answer at all, which was so unusual that she started to panic just a little; usually she didn't actually worry much about him because he was in a concrete bunker watching a bunch of scientists play with computers. She had a feeling that Erik was part of that, but she hadn't actually asked, mostly because she didn't want to make Clint lie to her, She tried calling Jane, who had put up a rushed voicemail message about being invited to the Observatory at Tromso, which turned out to be in Norway. Which meant she probably didn't know anything at all, which didn't help much. She didn't have Erik's number, or Coulson's, though the latter had been offered up with disturbing frequency for a hypothetical (but apparently not so hypothetical) just-in-case. 

She kept spamming his inbox as much as possible, though, and kept NBCNews on as often as Bennet would let her, which was a lot once he realized something was actually wrong. It was almost four days of worrying about him before there was extremely shaky footage of some kind of war in Manhattan that she actually saw him. It was grainy and not professional at all, but she'd recognize that field suit anywhere - Clint was literally the only one in the organization that never had sleeves, at least according to him - and he was walking with a red-head that was probably Natasha (she tried really hard not to be jealous of Clint's friend, but it was kind of a lost cause when she was pretty even through a shitty camera-phone) and someone that was dressed like Captain America. 

The invasion turned out to be aliens, which was both hilarious and terrifying. After that one shot of him, though, she only caught glimpses of his bow at the edge of the screen as everyone was apparently focusing on the Captain America look-alike and holyshittheHulk. She sent him one last email before closing her laptop and getting out a bottle of the alcohol that her mother hadn't been aware she knew the location of. She didn't even realize she was crying until she was wrapped up in her mom's arms, the TV muted so she didn't have to hear what was happening whenever she closed her eyes.

It took almost 3 hours, but everything ended with Iron Man (and boy was she going to tear Clint a new one for not telling her he knew Tony Stark, because seriously) flying a  _nuke_ into the giant portal in the sky. She turned off the TV and took her laptop into her room, completely drained from watching the world almost end, her boyfriend at the epicenter of all of it. She kept waking up to check her email, just in case he actually remembered that she existed, and finally, well after midnight, she got a response.

 

August 17 02:24

 

From: eyesonthetarget12@gmail.com  
To: kickasschick345@gmail.com  
Subject: Sorry  
  
The last few days have been pretty hectic, as you saw on the tv. I'll tell you everything I can, but I'm okay. A couple of broken ribs, but they'll heal. I don't actually have a phone to call you and I kind of hacked into a secure computer to get this out. I'm getting a new phone tomorrow and I promise I'll call you, okay?

I promise, Sweetheart. I've got a lot to talk to you about.

I love you.

Clint

 

She wasn't sure whether to be reassured or more terrified by the email, but at least she knew he'd survived the giant alien whales. It still took her a good three hours to fall asleep, phone clutched in her hand.

 

~*~

 

The phone was ringing, and she couldn't figure out why. It usually didn't ring when she was asleep. "H'lo?"

"Shit, Sweetheart. I woke you up, didn't I? I can call back later." It was Clint, and he sounded frankly exhausted, an edge of something in his voice that she couldn't place.

"No! I'm-I'm awake. Just give me a couple of minutes to get some coffee. I promise, I'm here. What happened?"

"Well, Blondie's brother happened. He... Shit, I can't say any of this on a phone. Dar, I'm coming out there, okay? I can't come today, but I'm definitely coming out to see you. There's about 9 million things I need to tell you and none of them are things I can just say on a phone, especially not a secure line." He sounded jagged, like he was barely holding it together, and that scared her more than anything else that had happened in the last week.

"Of course. Is there anything you  _can_ talk about on a phone?"

"Well, there were definitely aliens in New York. And yes, that really was Captain America, they dug him out a few months ago, I don't remember when; we might have been having a weekend, so I wasn't paying too much attention." She couldn't help the giggle at that, and almost felt him relaxing through the phone. Whatever was in his head was bad, bad enough that her laughing at a super-lame joke was a relief, and she quietly started making plans for what to do when he got to Spokane. She didn't know if she'd be able to help much, but she'd damn sure try.

"So you fought alongside Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk?"

"Stark called me Legolas. It was kind of surreal. And no, I didn't know any of them beforehand except Natasha, and she was in Malibu for like a year." She knew he wasn't being defensive on purpose, at least not completely, so she let it go.

"So you killed aliens with a bow and arrows? You know, I always thought you were weird." His laughter is rough, but real, and she let herself relax a little. If he could laugh even a little bit, then there couldn't be too much wrong, which was a thought she figured she'd be clinging to for awhile.

"Yeah, well, you're the one that agreed to go out with me. I'm going to talk to Nick and get my travel plans set up by tonight. I'll let you know when I know?" There was noise on the other side, like someone was talking to him, and he obviously pulled away from the receiver to snap at someone in another language before returning to the conversation as the sound petered out. "Sorry, Stark can be a nosy little bitch. I've got a debriefing to go to, but I'll call you tonight, okay Sweetheart?"

"Of course. I'll be waiting." Before Clint could hang up, she added quickly, "I'm glad you're not dead, bird-brain."

"Love you, too, Sweetheart." When the call disconnected, she cried herself back to sleep, though she had no idea why she was crying.


	4. Clint's Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint had about 9 million things to tell her, but can he actually get through all of them?

When he got off the plane in Spokane, he thought he was going to shake apart before he even saw Darcy. He hadn't slept, except a few snatched naps when he could be sure one of the others would actually watch him, since before Loki made his brain scrambled eggs, and he was almost literally running on sugar and caffeine. He'd gotten the all-clear from Medical that he wasn't tainted anymore, but that didn't do much for his subconscious besides make it okay to go see Darcy. He was ready to drop.

"Clint!" He jerked his head up from staring at the steps of the escalator to see her standing at the bottom, eyes wide. Ignoring normal rules of airports and possibly physics, he jumped over the railing and down to the floor, already moving before he was even finished landing. He didn't want anything but to hold her, and it seemed like that was pretty much her agenda, too, as she ran into his arms, clinging to him tightly. He buried his face in her hair, determined not to break down in the middle of an airport just because of the smell of her  _shampoo_. They stood there for a good few minutes, just breathing each other in, before she finally pulled back a little. He let her, reluctantly, though he kept one of her hands, unwilling to let go completely.

"I actually didn't check any baggage," he said quietly, amazed that his voice wasn't just breaking with the need to tell her everything.

"Then let's go. Mom said she was making dinner, so it'll probably be meatloaf and mashed potatoes, hope you're properly prepared."

"I love meatloaf." He tucked her under his arms, not wanting her to be far from him at all. He wasn't sure if sitting in separate seats in the car would be close enough, honestly. She kept up inane chatter that he could just hum to contribute to all the way to the car, for which he was grateful because if he didn't, he'd blurt out about Phil and about Loki in the middle of a crowded airport, which would just be bad.

He made her stop before they got to her house, pointing to an empty parking lot, because he knew her brother was young, and her mom didn't need to hear about all of it unless Darcy chose to tell her. She turned the car off, looking at him with such an uncertain expression that he just cracked.

"Phil's dead." It wasn't what he'd planned on leading with, but at least it was out there. "Loki stabbed him in the back." She looked horrified, more about how he died than that he was dead, he knew. Darcy and Phil had never really been friends, though they'd been civil the few times they'd had to interact. She got along great with Jasper, which was kind of freaky, but-- he shook his head, pulling himself back to the point. "The aliens, the portal... it was all Loki's plan. Well, most of it. Some of it was..." This was where he was afraid he'd have to get out of the car and walk back to the airport, but it needed to be said. "Some of it was mine. The scientist that died in Germany? That was my fault." He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at her, to see her rejection, so it took him completely by surprise when she cupped his face in her hands.

"What do you mean?"

"Loki, he... he took me. He said 'You have heart' and he took me over, hollowed me out. All I was was the job, my target." He tried to say more, but even just that little bit was more than he'd told anyone. Even with Natasha, it had been generalities, and he couldn't keep going, couldn't talk about putting Loki on the helicarrier so that Phil would die.

"Sh, baby, it's okay, none of it was your fault. He obviously planned for a long time. You were almost in charge down there, weren't you?"

"No, but I saw everything that happened. And I knew a lot about the helicarrier, because I helped design it. I... I put Loki there. And Phil died. A lot of people did."

"Still Loki's fault. He knew you saw everything. He knew you noticed more than people thought you did, and he probably knew that you helped with the helicarrier, whatever that is. Not. Your. Fault." He started crying, finally let himself break, because Darcy was there, they were alone, and everything just hurt so much. But she wouldn't let him stay that way for long. It was a big part of why he loved her.

~*~

Darcy wasn't sure exactly what she was supposed to do. Clint was a mess; the one thing she'd known about him, even in the beginning, was that he liked being in control, or at least having some say over what he did, and that a total loss like that... He wasn't broken, but he was almost there. He hadn't had time to break during the Invasion, mostly because he was needed, and Clint loved being needed. After his total breakdown in the car, she'd managed to get him home and into bed, where he passed out with her hand in his hair. She wasn't sure how much to explain to her mother, either, other than that he'd been held hostage for awhile and that his best friend was dead.

She grabbed his phone and emailed 'Nick' that he was staying with her for at least a month. He needed to be away from SHIELD, away from the reminders of what had happened while he'd been Loki's plaything. She got an almost prompt response that his leave was considered indefinite unless there was something that the Avengers were needed for, which sounded ominous, but she took it with both hands. She needed the time with him, too. A few days or a week here and there clearly weren't enough.

By the time he was awake and lucid, she'd washed all the clothes in his backpack and reheated the dinner that he hadn't gotten to eat, and started the healing process. It was both easier and harder than she thought.


	5. Just Living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I just saw the official Marvel Avengers Movies' Timeline. Which totally destroyed everything about this story, at least timing-wise... so it gets a giant Canon Divergence slapped on it, because yeah.

The month with Darcy and her family was a great relief, a way to keep away from things that he wasn't sure he wanted to know about anyway. He could have probably stayed longer, but he needed to get back, to get back into it. It was who he was, more than the Clint that threw a football with Bennet Lewis and helped Elizabeth Lewis with the dishes. That was a great break, but he needed to go back to his life. Otherwise he'd never know if he could do it or not, and that wasn't something he was prepared to give up, not completely.

He knew he'd never be a true Specialist again, but being in the Avengers was different enough in and of itself that living with the Lewis's felt like a distant dream sometimes. Everything about that time except Darcy was like sepia, fuzzy at the edges because while he wanted to remember it in its entirety, it would make him less effective, a little too soft for the life he had to live. He hadn't said anything like that to Darcy, of course, but she probably knew anyway.

Being an Avenger meant living in Tony Stark's ridiculous ode to himself, Stark Tower, where of course, everyone had their own floors, because Stark was a Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist (Natasha said it almost fondly, which was creepy as hell; he said it like the curse it was). He even got a new laptop loaded with the latest in long-distance communications software, which made him suspicious until Steve (how weird was it that he could call  _Captain America_ Steve?) asked him what half of the pictures on his screen were for and he realized it was literally just what Tony did for everyone. Which was simultaneously sweet and creepy as all hell. He did his best to explain what the icons were for before siccing Steve on Tony to explain it all while he got JARVIS to promise that he would never ever ever use any form of surveilance on his floor unless there was some kind of emergency. Because the thought of Tony having access to him taking a shower was way creepy.

The advantage that came with his own floor was that he could lock down his floor barring Avengers emergencies, keeping his private life as private as possible. His calls with Darcy became Skype dates where she watched him practice in his shooting range and he watched he school her little brother in the DC superheroes. They watched movies together, and (of course) had sex, but because he was firmly stationed in Manhattan, there was no way he could sneak away to see her like he'd done in New Mexico. Mostly because Jasper just wasn't Phil, not that anyone was trying to force him to be, and he couldn't just say something would happen and watch while the dominoes fell into place.

The biggest disadvantage to living at Stark Tower was Tony Stark. Seriously, before the Invasion, that would have probably been his biggest fear, living with Stark. It really didn't help anything that they actually got along. Knowing that his sense of humor ran parallel to Tony's was actually kind of terrifying at first, though Clint didn't have near the force of personality that made Tony truly dangerous to people's mental wellbeing. He let Tony take him out once a week, mostly because he was the only other Avenger that could actually get drunk and/or deal with Tony for more than a couple of hours at a stretch. Going out with Tony was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, where the trains were made out of cheese and the passengers were never really there at all. Clint was pretty sure that 90% of the stories he had to tell Darcy about living in the Tower involved Tony, at least one bar bunny, and some kind of alcohol.

Tony constantly introduced him to women, trying to get him laid, despite the fact that Clint had stated every single time that he wasn't single. Darcy thought it was hilarious and kept covering her camera if someone made it onto the floor and stubbornly keeping quiet. It was funny to Clint, too, mostly, because he could just stand back after turning the girls down and watch Tony either score epically (he wasn't sure how Pepper fit into all of it, but he was a little scared of her, so he wasn't going to ask.  _ever_ ) or strike out equally spectacularly. Either way it was funny, because a pouting Tony Stark was just about the most pathetic thing Clint had ever seen, and watching him score with three girls at once was an exercise in half-drunk thinking that bordered on MENSA, because the logistics of that without leaving someone out was kind of... daunting. The big hilarity came from the girls that Tony seemed to think were Clint's type: redheads, model pretty, as tall as or taller than him. He tried telling Tony short brunettes were more his thing, but apparently Tony thought everyone was attracted to Pepper (he wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean that she was everyone's type).

So he had a great time most weeks describing Tony's latest fail in finding him a girl, and his eventual pass or fail at picking someone up or even remaining conscious. Some weeks, though, were just tiring, because sometimes he just wanted to prop his laptop up so it looked like Darcy was laying next to him, so he could just stare at her, and Tony would ruin that. Or villains would. But more often, it was Tony. Most villains were a daytime occurence; Tony could happen at any time of any day. But he grinned and beared it, because until Darcy could get a job in New York or even the Northeast, all he'd have was her voice from computer speakers and phone speakers, and her face that sometimes blurred if she moved too fast, because her camera was kind of old, even for her normal level of technology. On the weeks that he was feeling particularly sorry for himself, Tony dragging him out felt more like torture.

Especially when he dragged the others into it. Natasha knew he had  _someone_ , even though he'd kind of refused to tell her who (mostly for Darcy's sanity, seriously), but that didn't mean she actually  _cared_ , because she was Russian (for awhile at least). Steve just disapproved of picking up bar bunnies on principle, and couldn't get drunk anyway, so if he did come along, it was usually to cockblock Tony on purpose and make sure everyone made it home in one piece. Bruce usually managed to get out of it by citing 'angry drunk' and leaving it at that. Clint wished he had that excuse, sometimes, though even that didn't always work on Tony.

~*~

"We're going to get Clint laid!" Tony announced one night at dinner, and Clint started banging his head against the table, because it was date night, dammit, and he really really wanted to watch that new movie about the child Gladiators or whatever, especially since Tony insisted on calling him Katniss, after the heroine.

"Tony..." Steve started, eyebrows furrowing together, a Lecture lurking behind his lips (Steve's lectures were Lectures, on a whole different level than Phil's, which Clint had thought were the height of the sport, as it were), but Tony cut him off neatly.

"No, I've been trying on my own and Legolas is remarkably stubborn. He also really needs to get laid." Clint knew that as soon Tony got rolling, Bruce might join in, even if he refused to drink, because Bruce was secretly a Troll who took lessons from 4chan and Facebook. Natasha would go along because of free booze, and Steve would be the babysitter. It was already kind of a done deal. He sent Darcy a quick text to let her know he'd miss part of the date at least, but that they'd do it the next day before getting to his feet.

"Where are you going, Clint?" Natasha asked, voice amused.

"Obviously, because Tony has no idea about normal human emotion, I'm going to get dressed. If I'm getting dragged out to a bar I might as well not embarass D-myself." Steve looked a little intrigued by his slip, as did Natasha, but Bruce and Tony were already discussing the scientific ramifications of alcohol's downer qualities versus the documented loss of control caused by the same. He rolled his eyes and went to his floor, where Darchy's name was flashing on his tablet. He picked it up and answered, setting her up with a front row seat to his closet.

"Hey, what did you mean you won't make the date? You're there, obviously."

"Yeah, but Tony's managed to talk just about everyone into going out to a bar, and if I refuse again, he'll break into my shit. And I don't want that. Plus, Steve will find a way to label it 'Team Bonding' and then I'd have to go anyway." He reaches into his closet for a shirt that she'd bought for him in Seattle and a nice pair of jeans. He wasn't going to be the best dressed of the group, but he definitely had good enough taste to know what he could wear well. The noise from his tablet let him know he was right. "If you stay up a little later, I'd be happy to take all of this off for you, too." Darcy giggled lightly.

"Well, okay then. I guess you can go to the bar. Don't embarass me, Mister Barton!" she said mock-sternly, barely able to keep the smile off her face, and he blew a kiss at the tablet screen.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll fall on my sword if I do, how's that?" At her laugh, he stopped being as goofy, because he really did want to make sure she knew that he didn't like that he had to go. "I love you, Sweetheart."

"I love you, too, bird-brain. Go try and have fun." She hung up before he could say anything, though she hadn't looked angry, so it was a 50/50 on whether she actually was or not. But that was any woman in his acquaintance, really. He grabbed his wallet and ran for the elevator when JARVIS relayed that eveyone else was ready. The night was going to suck.

~*~

"Barton! Clint! This is Patricia!" Tony was very enthusiastic about foisting a tall blonde woman on him (she was taller than everyone but Steve, seriously) and shoving them at the dance floor.  
  
"Call me Patty!" she shouted over the music, and he nodded, smiling.  
  
"I'm Clint!"  
  
"Tony said you're a professional archer!"  
  
"Yeah, I work at an archery range downtown when I'm not working with Tony," he said, even though he very much didn't. Why couldn't Tasha come save him? 'Patty' sidled closer, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he gently disengaged, leading her over to a quieter corner of the club. "Look, Patty, I'm sure you're real nice. But I've got a girl."  
  
"Oh. Then why's Tony so gung-ho about getting you a date?"  
  
"Because she's in Washington. The state. And because Tony doesn't know everything. Let me buy you a drink, we can dance, but I'm not looking for anything here." She smiled and nodded, leaning against him.  
  
"Sure, honey. I'll tell Tony we had a lovely time, but that ultimately you weren't interested?" He nodded, but was distracted by a text from Darcy.

_Hey don't forget about your birthday, bird brain! I'm flying in on Tuesday at noon!_

"Sorry, it's my girl. Give me one second?" He waited for her nod before he replied.

_I'll be there with bells on! xx_

Her reply made him laugh a little harder than he probably should have.

_Somehow I think you'd actually show up with bells on. Love you! xx_

"Sorry. Tonight's supposed to be our 'date night'. Anyway, what're you drinking?" He chatted with Patty for awhile, trying to stay as far away from Tony as possible, but his plans were thwarted when she disappeared into the bathroom and a slightly tipsy Bruce came over.

"Tony wants to know how it's going while you're in the bathroom," he confided, like he wasn't yelling over the music, and Clint held back his laugh with supreme effort, glancing over to the table the rest of them were at. That turned out to be a mistake because Tony waved him over. If he didn't go, Tony would just get up and stalk him for the rest of the night, so he went.

"So?!" Tony looked like he was about to vibrate out of his skin, for all that he was practically hanging off a long-suffering Steve.

"She's nice. We've got similar taste in music." Which they actually did, but that didn't mean he was taking her home with him, or going home with her.

"Nice? Is that all you can say? How about hot?"

"She's not really my type, Tony. And I've seen and bedded hotter. So, you know, nice. Plus, I'm not looking for a relationship. I know I've told you this. I'm not looking for a one night stand, either. I keep waiting for you to believe me."

"Nope! You need to get laid, my friend! Seriously, you hide in your room like all the time! You need to get out more, meet people, Barton." Tony was doing the arm waving thing that meant he was well past the legal limit, so Clint tried to let the words roll off his back, but he was already frustrated, and Tony just wasn't getting it.

"I don't like it when you do this to me. I don't want you to find me a girl."

"A guy then?"

"I'm straight, Tony. I'm also in a relationship already. I've got a girl; I tell you that all the damn time. Why can't you believe me?"

"Is that who you're always texting?" Steve asked, and he nodded, thinking about the fact that he'd be seeing Darcy in less than a week.

"Well where is she?" Tony asked, looking around like someone would magically pop out of the crowd claiming to be Clint's girlfriend.

"Across the country. Hence the hiding in my room. We talk a lot."

"All the more reason to get some stress relief!" Tony crowed, and Clint almost lost it right there. Tony usually at least pretended to have boundaries.

"Just because you pick up a girl or three whenever Pepper's out of town doesn't mean the rest of us do," he said, leaning forward so he didn't have to yell for Tony to hear him. "So fuck off, Stark. I happen to love my girlfriend. Cheating's not on the agenda, never has been. I've been with her for over two years, and we've had maybe 3 months of face to face, and you think I'd cheat on her  _now?_ Just... Fuck. Off." He got up, getting ready to head for coat check. He was done. If he stayed, be'd probably kill Tony.

Patty came over while he was making his way to the door, and he pressed a ten into her hand. "Get yourself another drink on me. Sorry we didn't get our dance, but I can't stay anymore. It was really nice talking to you, Patty."

"You be careful getting home, honey. And tell your girl she's really lucky."

He smiled a little more genuinely at that. "I'm the lucky one. Good night." He grabbed his jacket and stepped outside, going toward the cab line before Happy called to him.

"I can take you home and come back; Tony won't be done any time soon, I'll have plenty of time."

"Thanks, Happy. Tony just pissed me off again, talking about cheating on Darcy." Happy knew about Darcy, mostly because the last time she'd come to NYC had been a surprise and he'd been taking the 'Happy Express' to get back to the Tower so he could talk to her after a meeting at HQ.

"Sorry about him."

"You're not his keeper, though I'm pretty sure it feels like it sometimes, right?" Clint willed himself to calm down as they got closer to the Tower, not wanting to call Darcy as pissed off as he had been.

"I'm pretty sure there's not a person on this planet that man hasn't offended at some point, whether they've met him or not," Happy said mildly as he pulled up in front of the door in the garage area.

"Truer words and all that. Thanks a lot, Happy. See you around." He jumped out and hopped into the elevator.

"Good evening, Sir," JARVIS said as it began moving. Clint slumped against the wall for a moment.

"How's it going, JARVIS?"

"The world turns smoothly, sir," JARVIS said dryly, making Clint snort. "No threats at this time."

"Thanks, JARVIS," he said as the elevator stopped on his floor. "I'm locking my door tonight, Tony's not allowed in for any reason, not even Avengers shit. Steve can come get me for that." 

"Of course, Sir. Have a good evening." He waved at the ceiling of the elevator as he headed for his bedroom and booted up his laptop. Hopefully Darcy would still be awake so that this whole day wouldn't be a total bust.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of in shock right now. I'm frankly flabbergasted by the response to this story and all of the comments and Kudos I'm getting. I mean, I'm not that great a writer, and to hear that people were actually looking for this story and that it was part of what made someone ship Clint/Darcy is insane to me.
> 
> So really, thank you guys so much! The ride's almost over, at least for this story (sequel is pretty much being brainstormed at this point), and I hope I don't mess up the ending for you guys!

He made sure Tony was in a meeting when he went to get Darcy from La Guardia. It wasn't that he didn't trust Tony, he... just didn't trust Tony. The man had seemed apologetic once he was sober again, but that was most likely Steve's doing. The smaller (relative to Thor) blond man had looked particularly disapproving, so he was pretty confident in that assessment. Darcy's flight was on time for once, and it was all he could do to not jump the barrier and scoop her up. Three months was really too damned long.  
  
"Clint!" She jumped into his arms and he just held her for a long moment. He'd really missed the way she smelled, as corny as that sounded. "God it's good to see you." She pulled back. "You're thinner again. Have you been forgetting to eat?"  
  
"Avoiding Tony. Forgot that he stalks the kitchen whenever he hasn't seen me for more than 3 hours. Let's get your bag and grab some food." He kept an arm around her, mostly because he could, as they headed toward baggage claim. "When are you moving here? You know I can afford an apartment." It was an argument he'd had with her before, when he was in Spokane, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't ever end in his favor, but he at least had to try.  
  
"I'd feel like a mistress if I didn't have a job, and hey look, bad economy!" she retorted, scooping up her violently purple duffel bag. "Plus, you've gotta live at the Tower, I'd still never see you." He sighed, because sadly, she had a point. And living in the Tower really wasn't an option, since she didn't work for Tony or anything. Though he might ask Pepper at some point if she was looking for anyone for PR or HR or something. Could be an angle they could work with. He shook himself out of that and back to the conversation at hand.  
  
"I'm yours for the next four days. Except for the party."  
  
"Party?" she asked blankly, and he almost slapped himself for not remembering that she didn't live with him, didn't actually know Tony.  
  
"Tony hacked my SHIELD file. I'm a little afraid of what's waiting with that party. If he got strippers, I'm gonna kill him." She giggled, which made him grin, even though he didn't really see what was funny.  
  
"Clint, if there are strippers, you can guarantee that someone else can be entertained by them. Now c'mon, I'm hungry, and you need to eat."  
  
"We're not going near the Tower; Tony seems to have a sixth sense of when I leave and come back. It's totally weird. Let's go to Grand Central. They finally reopened it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they've done with the restaurant." Darcy nodded and they headed toward the restaurant. God he'd missed her, and he definitely wasn't thinking about her leaving on Friday.  
  
~*~  
  
"Barton!" Clint really regretted answering his phone. It was eleven at night and he was in bed, for Christ's sake! "You're not home! Why aren't you home?!" And awesome. Tony was drunk. Again. What was he saying, 'again'? This was Tony. He probably wasn't ever entirely sober.  
  
"I'm hiding from you, crazy," he answered easily, grinning as Darcy muffled her giggles against his shoulder. "I told you my girlfriend was flying in; I'm staying with her."  
  
"You shoulda brought her here! There's plenty of room!" He rolled his eyes at the typically Tony answer. He knew there was room for Darcy; his bed could probably hold all of the Avengers and still have room. He just didn't want to deal with the rest of them yet.  
  
"No, because I want her to still be my girlfriend tomorrow. I'd hate to have to break up with her after she gets arrested for tazing you to death." Darcy's giggles had become full-blown laughter by this point, and it was hopeless to muffle anymore. "See? She loves the idea of tazing you too much."  
  
"But I wanna meet her!"  
  
"You'll meet her tomorrow at the party, Tony. Good night." He arched when she slid a hand down his chest, biting off a gasp and glaring at her. She just laughed harder, the traitor.  
  
"Oh! Did I interrupt something?" Tony sounded entirely too interested in the answer to that question. Time to end this.  
  
"Good bye Tony!" He hung up before he got roped into another tangential conversation and tossed his phone on the table. "Oh hush, Darcy, you know you'd end up tazing him within five minutes. And also, you're evil. Pure evil." She finally stopped laughing full-out, little giggles escaping every once in awhile. He'd missed this, just being with her, almost more than the sex, not that the sex wasn't fucking amazing.  
  
"I'm not allowed to take my tazer with me tomorrow, am I?" she finally asked, picking up the remote to flip through the channels, finally settling on a bad B-movie on ScyFy. He settled back against the pillows, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer. He didn't want to let her go until he had to.  
  
"No, you're not. But you can have one of my arrowheads with the charge in it, if that makes you feel better." She nodded, curling up against him as some poor girl got dismembered on the screen. "I love you."  
  
"Love you, too. Now watch the movie." He ran his fingers through her hair and did as he was told. He wished he could get used to this.


	7. The Party

Going to the Tower with Darcy in tow felt weird. It was the one place he'd never thought to bring her to (okay that was a lie, but he'd never given serious thought to it, mostly because that way lay madness), and it had Tony. Tony was a friend, sure. But that didn't mean that he wanted Darcy to meet Tony. Either Tony would die, or he and Darcy would actually get along, neither of which were conducive to Clint's mental health. But he walked through the side door and straight over to the elevator, Darcy looking a little shell-shocked at the obvious opulence of the main lobby, and he knew why; neither of them were the type to like all the frou-frou that seemed to have vomited over the large space.  
  
"How's it going, JARVIS?" he asked as he stepped into the elevator and hit the button for his private floor, hoping no one was laying in wait for them.  
  
"Swimmingly, Sir. Master Stark has asked me to remind you that the party is being held on the penthouse floor, not your own."  
  
"You have your own floor?" Darcy hissed, clearly impressed. Clint sighed, because he didn't really use anything on it.  
  
"I'm always in my room, and there's a communal kitchen that everyone ends up at at some point. My floor's mostly an archery range. Thanks, by the way, JARVIS. This is Darcy, my girlfriend. Dar, the voice is JARVIS, Tony's AI. He pretty much runs everything."  
  
"Lovely to make your acquaintance, Miss Lewis," JARVIS said smoothly, and Clint winced. Of course JARVIS had access to every record in the world.  
  
"He looked you up on Google," he said when Darcy looked a little weirded out. "It's a thing for him. We're going to my floor first so I can show her my room, then we'll head up. Please don't let Tony disturb us?"  
  
"Indeed, Sir." The elevator finally got to his floor and he shouldered his bag and Darcy's, heading toward his bedroom, bypassing the small tv room and the door to the range, which really did take up most of the floor.  
  
"Holy crap. I knew Stark had more money than God, but this is ridiculous!"  
  
"Isn't it? It's convenient when I don't want to see anyone. I can lock down the floor and have fun all day up here if I want. This is my room." He knew it would look a little spartan, but he also knew she didn't really care about that. It had his new laptop (StarkTech) and the bedset she'd sent him for Christmas to replace the one he'd lost, but other than that, there really wasn't anything personal in the room. All of his movies were in the closet, and he didn't really make a habit of keeping personal effects out in the open anyway. It was a holdover from living in SHIELD barracks for so long.  
  
"So we're coming back here, later, right? I want to see if the bed's as soft as it looks." He kissed her nose, pulling her close, reveling in her laughter.  
  
"If we had the time, sweetheart, I'd say we can find out now. As it is, Tony's probably already trying to undo the locks on the elevator, so we should get going. This is either going to be lots of fun or a clusterfuck. I can't decide."  
  
"Just enjoy yourself. I'll behave, I promise."   
  
"It's not you I'm worried about. At least not the most." He hugged her close as the elevator went up to the penthouse level, relishing these last few moment alone with her. When the elevator doors opened, he let his hand slide down to hold hers as he pulled her into the penthouse. The first person to greet them, scarily enough, wasn't Tony. It was Steve.  
  
"Hey Clint, happy birthday. You might want to avoid Tony right now. He's in between sober and delirious." Steve looked a little uncomfortable with saying that in front of a lady, but he'd gotten better at learning what was considered polite in the future.  
  
"Good to know." Darcy elbowed him, hard, and he covered his wince with a cough. Jeez her elbows were sharp. "Uh, Steve, this is Darcy Lewis, my girlfriend. Sweetheart, this is Steve Rogers. Also known as Captain America."  
  
"Is she... cleared to know this?" Steve's uncomfortable look had morphed into one of almost-fear, as if he expected Nick Fury to pop out of the woodwork (literally) for a breach in security.   
  
"It's cool. I tazered Thor once," she said breezily, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Captain Rogers." Clint knew she was actually pretty stoked to meet Captain America, but she was pretty good at hiding when she was nervous or excited.  
  
"Uh, call me Steve." Clint hid his grin when they shook hands; Darcy was seriously his favorite forever. "Are you always this..."  
  
"Cool? Yeah. Unless I find out from TV that my boyfriend's part of stopping an alien invasion."  
  
"Really? I thought we were past that!" He really had thought that they were over it. That month had gona a long way to making their relationship even stronger, and they'd talked about it a lot, about knowing that he'd be on TV every time something happened like that. Apparently she was not as over it as she'd said before.  
  
"Nope, holding it over you forever. For. Ever." He sighed; Darcy could seriously hold a grudge forever. Unless the person she had a grudge against died (Phil) or was from another planet (Loki).  
  
"I'll... Let you get on with introducing her to everyone, I guess. Steer clear of the 'Igloo' cooler. I'm pretty sure whatever's in it is illegal in the States," Steve finally said, wandering away, probably to figure out if anything that had been said was a jibe at him or not. Clint saw Thor telling Bruce a story, and headed over.   
  
"Two for one. Hey guys!"  
  
"DARCY!" Thor boomed, tugging her into a hug that lifted her off the ground. Clint waited for the twinge of jealousy, but it never came, which was awesome. "It is good to see you! What brings you hence?"  
  
"Clint's birthday. Put me down, okay Big Guy? Oh, and Jane said she's waiting at the radio station for you, whenever you're done here."  
  
"I shall visit her tomorrow. Felicitations, Clint, on this day of your birth!" Clint was treated to a similar hug, and was glad when he was set down so that he could breathe. "How did you and the Lady Darcy meet?"  
  
"Well, it was the night you broke into the facility, actually. She was at the club in town and we started talking."  
  
"That long? Amazing!" Clint let himself fall into the familiar cadence of talking to Thor for a moment before remembering about Bruce.   
  
"Oh! Bruce, this is Darcy Lewis, my girlfriend. Darcy, Dr. Bruce Banner."  
  
"My old boss is a big fan. She read all your dissertations on particle physics," Darcy said, and Clint watched as Bruce practically came alive. Not many people remembered that he'd done other stuff before being picked up by the military, and pretty much every one of them was in this building, on this floor.  
  
"Really? Wow. Oh, happy birthday, Clint. Can I ask how old you are?"  
  
"Uh, 33 or 34. Can't exactly remember the year." He knew it was in his file, but Tony had probably only noted the month and the day, since the engineer didn't like the fact that he was over 40 and vehemently denied the same.  
  
"I put not enough candles on the cake!" Dear God, Tony. Drunk Tony, with no Steve or Pepper to watch him. The world was going to end.  
  
"Hello, Tony."  
  
"Birthday boy! Who's the hot chick? Where'd you get her from? Where can I get one? Kidding, Pep!" Everyone knew that Tony wasn't really kidding, but they at least had the grace not to point that out, though Clint did grit his teeth a little. He'd known that Tony wasn't really sorry for the week before.  
  
"Tony, this is Darcy Lewis. My girlfriend. The one you said didn't exist." Tony opened his mouth to respond - probably with a defensive comment that would just end up sounding insulting - when Darcy cut in, eyebrows raised. Clint had told her about what Tony said, but it was another thing to see it in person.  
  
"Wait, he said I didn't exist? What a douchebag. You're Tony Stark."  
  
"And you're... very hot." Clint resisted the urge to facepalm, knowing that if he started now, he'd break his nose by the end of the night. "Where are you from?"  
  
"Washington. With the rain."  
  
"Oh! Awesome! Bar's over there, cake's in a little while, and there'll be presents!" Tony was entirely too enthusiastic. One would think it was his party. "I'm so glad to meet you, you know! I bet you know all kinds of stuff about Hawkeye!" Clint shook his head quickly, hoping Darcy got the message that he really didn't want Tony having blackmail or any other kind of ammunition on him.  
  
"If I tell you any of it, you'll use it to humiliate him, so how about no. I don't drink, either, so you're screwed on that front. I do, however, like cake." Tony pouted, hands slowly stopping their awkward spazzing.  
  
"You're no fun!"  
  
"I tazed Thor. And ran him over with an RV." Clint almost laughed at the smug look on Darcy's face, and the almost fond look on Thor's. That had to be the weirdest thing ever, but it apparently worked.  
  
"I take it back. You're amazing!" Clint grabbed Darcy's hand before Tony could steal her, knowing that absolutely nothing good could come of that combination.  
  
"I still have to finish introducing her. You two can trade diabolical plans later. Preferably never, but later. C'mon, sweetheart. Let's go meet the girls. Oh and Tony, thanks for forgoing the strippers."  
  
"Pepper wouldn't let me have them." Tony sounded genuinely sad and hurt by that, which made it the 9th time in a week that Clint worried about Tony's sanity or lack thereof.  
  
"Good on her. C'mon." Getting away from Tony was easier than he expected, because Bruce suddenly popped up with a question about something they were doing in the lab. Clint made a note to buy him tea. Lots and lots of tea. He pulled Darcy over to the corner where Natasha was watching the room with cool eyes. He felt a little like prey when her eyes passed over him (which was pretty normal when it came to Natasha), and froze when Darcy looked her over in return. Introducing them was either a great idea or terrible (fucking Budapest, seriously). "Natasha, this is Darcy, my girlfriend." Before he could complete the rest of the introduction, Darcy stepped forward, and he was reminded that Darcy had actually tazed the God of Thunder and still carried the personality needed to do that.  
  
"Hi. You're Budapest, aren't you?" How the fuck did she know about Budapest? Was she secretly psychic? Was that how she'd pretty much known everything about him with out him having to tell her? "Clint talked about it in his sleep once. I think he was having a nightmare."  
  
"I was with Clint in Budapest, yes," Tasha said, and Clint groaned silently. Worst. Word choice. Ever. Seriously.   
  
"Okay. So you've worked with him ever since? We have to compare notes." Terrible. Definitely terrible. Really, why couldn't he have fallen for a nice quiet girl?

"Nope, sorry, can't take the time, have to introduce her to Pepper, still. But you guys can talk later!" Right, like he'd actually let that happen. At least he'd do his best to prevent it. He pulled Darcy over to the counter near the kitchen that everyone called the bar, where Pepper had set up shop with a tablet and her phone. Just because it was his birthday didn't mean she didn't still have work to do. Plus, it gave her a reason not to participate in regular conversation, which he envied sometimes. He waited for her to finish whatever call she was on before catching her attention. "Pepper?"

"Oh! Clint, hi! Happy birthday!" He was surprised when she slid off her stool and hugged him, doing the continental kiss thing. They weren't particularly close, since she was definitely still a CEO and he spent most of his time on rooftops or in shooting ranges. She then turned to Darcy. "And this must be the girlfriend. I was wondering when you'd actually bring her to meet everyone."

"How'd you know I have a girlfriend?" he asked, forgetting for a moment that Darcy was actually there. He knew he hadn't told anyone anything about having a girlfriend except for Tony, who never remembered anything anyway. So for Pepper to know he had a girlfriend was kind of daunting.

"Clint, I sign off on the bills before they're sent to SHIELD, to make sure there's nothing of Tony's on there. Most of your calls went to the same number, so I figured 'SO' and since she's new and a girl, I figured girlfriend." Pepper sounded like she did when she was trying to explain something to Tony, before smiling and turning to Darcy. "Hi, I'm Pepper."

"Darcy Lewis. It's really good to meet you, actually. Especially since Clint talks about how much you terrify him." He gaped at her, feeling betrayed. Pepper just laughed.

"Most men are afraid of me. Hell, Tony's afraid of me. Now, how long have you and Clint known each other?" And they were off on a girl-talk thing that Natasha was quickly pulled into (so much for keeping them apart), involving stories about men and things and when the hell did this go from his birthday party to 'Let's Make Fun of Clint as Much as Possible'?

He drifted over to Bruce and Thor, who were once again talking about something that he finally recognized as the Asgardian version of baseball, or the closest they could get to it. He kept one ear on the girls' conversation, though, even when Steve joined in, since he was pretty much an expert on baseball, or as close to an expert as they had.

"So, where are you working that you're stuck out in Washington?" Pepper finally asked, and he turned more of his attention to their conversation, wondering what Darcy would say.

"Well, at the moment, I'm putting in resumes in various places on the East Coast, but I'm actually staying with my mom until something opens up out here. I work at a coffee shop to get disposable income. Pepper shook her head.

"What's your degree in?"

"Political Science, minor in Psychology." Pepper's eyes lit up at that.

"I was an accountant and now I'm CEO. You can obviously handle being with Clint, so you must be strong... Give me your resume before you leave and I'll find you a position at SI." When Darcy started to protest, she put up a hand. "Ah, ah, ah! You're obviously bored out in Washington, and having a job in the company would be a big pad on your resume if you ever wanted to do something in your actual field. Also, I don't think I've ever seen Clint as happy as he has been with you here. You don't have to take the job, but it would get you closer to Clint. And from what you've said, that hasn't exactly been a common occurence. Think about it and let me know before you leave, okay?"

"O... Okay. I would have to find an apartment near enough to the offices that I wasn't facing an hour commute, but I'll think about it." Clint decided to break in, wrapping his arms around her from behind, murmuring in her ear.

"No you wouldn't. You could stay here. With me. It would mean less of a commute, and you'd be around a lot, and..." He stopped talking, aware that he was pretty close to baring his heart in front of Natasha Romanov. He had no doubts she'd find a way to tease him about it at some point, though she found a way to tease him about most things anyway.  
  
"Huh. Living together. Novel experience. Sure, we can give it a try." He grinned down at her before kissing her hard, ignoring the fact that Natasha was probably rolling her eyes and Pepper was almost definitely taking a picture.  
  
"Good."   
  
Tony, of course, had to ruin the moment by wolf-whistling from the kitchen, where Steve was probably trying to keep him from destroying the cake. Clint judged him barely sloshed and then promptly forgot about him as Darcy kissed him again. Tony could go fuck himself.  
  
FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! At least for Bridged. Like I said, I'm thinking about a sequel, though if anyone has any good ideas, I'm all ears!
> 
> Thanks for reading this, I'm still a little shell-shocked that it's gotten this kind of reception.

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: 4/5/2013 Changed the Title because Bridged seemed kind of stupid, and also I now have a title theme going since I've started on the second story.


End file.
